Lifestyle
Foodie, bougie and opinionated: Meet Suppa Club's Asia White
Asia White defines herself as an “idea person” — someone with an expansive imagination and a tendency to get overexcited.
“I want to do lots of things. I’m always thinking of concepts, but I move on too quickly,” says the 27-year-old food influencer, more commonly known as the Foodie Bitch. “It’s like I live several lives in between each of my ideas.”
All of her ideas have one thing in common, though: They point back to building community with good food. Last year, she started her “Was it really worth the gentrification?” TikTok series, in which she candidly reviews L.A. restaurants in “newly colonized areas of L.A.” In a vlog-style video, she travels to places such as Donna’s in Echo Park, where she expresses a distaste for the “burnt sourdough bread with parm,” or Highly Likely in West Adams, where she dubs a hot tomato on a B.L.T. “criminal.” Through these comical yet eye-opening critiques, she realized her platform — as a Black foodie born and raised in L.A. — was an anomaly. She had attracted an audience eager to chime in about their own experiences and quick to ask White out to dinner.
Inspired by her comments section and the lack of a gathering space, White launched Suppa Club in 2022, a recurring dinner party that highlights local BIPOC private chefs and different restaurants. Complete with decadent platters, occasional live music and constant chatting, White has developed a new outlook on the traditional evening meal.
“I never really had sit-down dinners with my family. My mom was a single mom and we would eat on the couch,” says White. “Now, dinner has become ceremonial to me. It’s so special. It’s a time that we can all sit down and really take a moment. I don’t do that otherwise.”
But as dinner clubs in general continue to rise in popularity, White, a true Aquarian, wants to make sure Suppa Club stays original and creative, and is in the process of turning it into a production house. Lately, rather than the typical sit-down meals, she’s been hosting things like an ice cream social at Echo Park’s Fluffy McCloud’s, and she’s currently brainstorming a cooking competition-inspired dinner. No matter what form Suppa Club will take on in the future, the Foodie Bitch promises her priorities remain unchanged.
“I’ve always been a foodie, I just always been bougie, I’ve always been opinionated. And I’m always gonna talk my s–,” says White.
When I wake up, the first thing I do is pet my dogs. They’re Frenchies — Poundcake, Dubois and George. They’re a little family. They’re perfect.
The best dish I can make is a roast chicken. I’ve just been watching and hearing all the tips for roast chicken for so damn long. I feel like I have to put every tip into one phenomenal recipe.
The thing I can never master is anything that has to do with baking. I’m a horrible baker. I don’t know what it is. I can’t even make a Betty Crocker thing taste good — it always comes out dry. I feel like baking is science and cooking is like jazz.
A habit I’m currently trying to incorporate into my daily routine is going outside. I am always shut inside. There are days where I have not seen the light of day. So, I’m trying to be outside more — I call it my “sit and stare.” I go outside, without my phone, and just stare.
When I need a midday pick-me-up, I always want dessert. I’ll get a chocolate-covered banana with almonds from Baskin-Robbins. I love that.
Asia wears House of Campbell top and Cinq à Sept pants.
Whenever I host a dinner party, my go-to playlist is all lowrider oldies, specifically “Family Reunion” by the O’Jays. That’s my vibe.
A goal I have for myself before the end of the year is to launch Smackdown. It will be a version of Suppa Club that’s set up like a cooking competition where the guests are the judges. But I’m a super perfectionist and I’m sensitive about my s–, so sometimes it takes a while.
If I were taking myself on a date to a nice dinner in L.A., I would most likely be stopping by Camélia, which is actually so funny because I don’t like the food there. But they have really great drinks, really great french fries and great dessert — which is all I need for a date. I always get a martini and this chocolate passion fruit tart with an order of fries.
The most important thing to me right now is, I don’t wanna get corny but, believing in myself. I have so much self-doubt and insecurity. And I really want to start to lean in to who I am and trust that it’s gonna bring me success in life.
As a kid, my favorite home-cooked meal was always pork chops with applesauce — which I think is a white thing. I’ll tell my Black friends about it, and they have no idea what I’m talking about.
I first knew I was a foodie when I made my dad take me to Benihana when it was really popular in the early 2000s. I don’t even remember what we ate. But when we walked out, my dad asked me if I liked it. And at the age of 7, I told him it was overrated. He loves to tell that story.
When I think about Suppa Club, I would say I am most inspired by my own nostalgia. I want to re-create all these feelings from old movies and my own past experiences. I feel like it’s my thing.
“I never really had sit-down dinners with my family. My mom was a single mom and we would eat on the couch,” says White. “Now, dinner has become ceremonial to me. It’s so special. It’s a time that we can all sit down and really take a moment. I don’t do that otherwise.”
My ritual for after Suppa Club is going to Fukagawa, which is a Japanese breakfast place in Gardena. I get so overstimulated at Suppa Club, so the day after, I just have to sit in silence by myself. It’s a really nice quiet restaurant and I get my combo plate with broiled salmon, tamagoyaki, soup, rice and little pickles.
After a few years of throwing dinner parties, the biggest tip I’ve learned is that you never have enough ice. People always underestimate that. But also make sure to keep it simple. The moment is the moment. As long as the food is good, that’s what makes me happy. I don’t need some crazy s– going on.
The key to creating a welcoming space is reading the bible, not actually the Bible, but “The Art of Gathering” [by Priya Parker]. There are some phenomenal tips in there, really intentional stuff. But ultimately for me, I’m shy and awkward. So, I always make sure to greet people when they come in and introduce them to someone. I know us awkward girls need that.
What would you say to someone who is looking to make new friends in L.A.? I would say come to Suppa Club, but sometimes it’s not even like that. The reason I started Suppa Club is to find something that you like to do and start doing it. That’s how you’ll find your people. You have to leave the house. This can be a lonely city if you don’t.
The biggest deciding factor for when I try a new restaurant is the menu. I’m really a menu reviewer. A lot of menus are the same nowadays, they’re just making the same s– everywhere. But if there is one thing that looks good to me I’m happy to try it out. It’s a rare occasion. As an Aquarius, I’m not easily influenced.
My thinking place is my bedroom. A lot of thoughts come out of there. I like to rot and introspect.
What mindset do you encourage people attending Suppa Club to bring? Come really open and no f–ing networking vibes. If I hear about your job, I’ll kick you out. F– your job. I also love when people come alone. That’s like a really big thing for me. Just come to enjoy yourself. You don’t have to be the main character. You can come as you are.
My newest hobby is Pilates [she rolls her eyes]. That’s so L.A. coded.
Photo assistant: Chris Behroozian
Hair: HairGameConcepts
Nails: Pio Pio Nails
Location: Fluffy McCloud’s
Javier Bardem plays villain Max Cady in the Apple TV series Cape Fear.
Apple TV
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Apple TV
Cape Fear, based on a 1957 novel by John D. MacDonald, already has inspired two intense films about a man who, recently released from prison, goes on to terrorize his former attorney. Now there’s a new 10-part miniseries from Apple TV, which premieres its first two episodes June 5.
The first Cape Fear movie was in 1962, starring Robert Mitchum as ex-convict Max Cady, and Gregory Peck as attorney Sam Bowden. Peck’s Bowden was heroic and strong, but Mitchum’s ex-con was a playful, vengeful force of nature. One of the most powerful scenes in that movie was when Cady cornered Bowden’s wife, played by Polly Bergen, in a kitchen, grabbed and crushed a raw egg, then smeared it across her exposed shoulders as she shuddered with fear.
Mitchum’s very verbal sociopath has provided the template for dozens of movie and TV predators since. Those would include, most prominently, the eccentric killers played by Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men, and Billy Bob Thornton in the first season of TV’s Fargo. And Robert De Niro, of course, who played Max Cady in the 1991 remake of Cape Fear, opposite Nick Nolte as the defense attorney.
The most gripping and uncomfortable scene in that version, which was directed by Martin Scorsese, may have been the moment in which DeNiro’s Cady is alone with Bowden’s teenage daughter, played by Juliette Lewis, and approaches her with a mix of charisma and menace. Scorsese kept Cady as evil as before, but made Bowden a much less noble protagonist. And that’s why, I suspect, Scorsese has returned as an executive producer, along with Steven Spielberg, to present Apple TV’s new, expanded version of Cape Fear. This time, the shades of gray are everywhere you look.
Nick Antosca, who created and oversaw this new miniseries, has made some bold choices from the start — beginning with the casting and the primary characters. In the two movies, Bowden’s wife and family were targeted by Cady purely to get revenge on Bowden. In this new story, Bowden’s wife, Anna, was Cady’s defense attorney, and Bowden was the prosecutor. It puts her in the narrative more centrally, and pays off.
Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson are really, really good as the Bowdens, and play their parts with shifting layers of innocence and guilt. And playing Cady? It’s none other than Bardem, who already has embodied one world-class villain — and here he comes again.
Apple TV provided eight of the 10 episodes for preview, so I don’t know how this Cape Fear ends. But I know how cleverly it updates and expands the story. It’s set in today’s world, so there are cell phones, podcasters, rideshares, catfishing and public shaming — all of which figure into the plot.
There are also flashbacks, not only to Cady’s prison years, but to Bowden’s childhood, which is similarly fleshed out. And best of all, major new supporting characters are presented — some of whom inherit the stalking behaviors exhibited by Cady in the film versions. And those films are echoed with respect. Just as Scorsese found room for Peck and Mitchum to appear as other characters in his 1991 remake, this new Cape Fear pulls the same trick by casting someone from Scorsese’s film.
Bardem is riveting here, but he’s by no means the only reason to watch. The story may be familiar, but this new Cape Fear rolls out one surprise after another. Some scenes are scary, some are violent and some are creepy. And part of the suspense, in this new adaptation, is figuring out who the creeps really are — and where the evil really lies.
Students walk on the Stanford University campus on March 14, 2019, in Stanford, Calif.
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When Theo Baker arrived at Stanford University a few years ago, he joined the student newspaper, following the path of his journalist parents, Peter Baker, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, and Susan Glasser, a writer for The New Yorker.
Through his reporting as a student journalist, he eventually broke a story about manipulated data in Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s neuroscience research that helped lead to the university president’s resignation.
Theo Baker’s book, How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University was released May 19. In it, Baker describes Stanford as a place where proximity to Silicon Valley gives rise to a parallel system of influence, recruitment and money, with investors looking to identify promising students almost as soon as they arrive on campus.
He told Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep there was “a sort of Stanford inside Stanford,” where elite students are drawn into an “alternate reality” of excess and access to cut corners.
In the interview, he discusses how Stanford is not just a university but also a pipeline where status and power can matter as much as ideas.
We reached out to Stanford University for comment and have not heard back.
Listen to the interview by clicking play on the blue box above.
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